Currently, a significant amount of food products, including fresh meat, frozen poultry and cheese products, are packaged in thermo-shrink bags. Thermo-shrink bags are produced by a bi-oriented extrusion process. This process creates a thermal memory that allows the bag to shrink to the size of the product when the bag is exposed to heat. During the initial packaging process, the size of the bag is larger than the food product to be packaged. The bag is sealed after removing the air in a vacuum-sealing system. The bags are subsequently passed through a hot vapor tunnel or hot water bath in order to promote shrinkage.
The key characteristic of these thermo-shrink bags is that they are able to hold the shape of the product. However, the bi-oriented extrusion process used to make thermo-shrink bags is expensive and, due to the shrinkage step, time consuming. Additionally, while thermo-shrink bags made by a bi-oriented extrusion process allow for printing, the printed layer is externally exposed on the outside of the package and not properly protected. Thus, there is a need in the art for alternative structures that allow for both improved protection of printed layers and appearance, while also exhibiting the necessary elastic recovery properties so that the structure can adapt and hold to the shape of the packaged product. Furthermore, the process used to create such alternative packaging structures would ideally be more economical and efficient than the bi-oriented extrusion process used for producing thermo-shrink bags.